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Sumit SinghalSumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination.

Distort House in Jakarta, Indonesia by TWS & Partners

Twisting out something from the usual line is taken in order to create different perception or to enrich some more quality. This happens to a house that we name it as The Distort House. It is located in the south of Jakarta which is still dominated by lush, tropical village forest in the neighborhood. In the front of the site itself lays a public park with some old big tropical trees.

In response to those advantages, the house’s mass outline is shifted close to the back perimeter line of the site, and then twisted in 15 degree, leaving vast green area in the front. This is a unique way to open a more huge front space striking back as view and open air to the inside. The front green area brings benefits also as intermediary open space to soften the building scale to the surrounding and create visual bridge of transition between the public park and the house itself.

Interior View

As the open front space is enriched, we are possible to put private area in the upper level, so it has endless view of tree leaves and endless feel of fresh air. While on the ground is maximized for spaces that has more public and semi public in function. In this case we give the house a chance to breathe a bit more by leaving a huge living room without walls or even glass. Here we can just feel living and being in the middle of natural forest. A smaller living room acts as welcoming area for the family members that can connect them to the upper floor whereas bedrooms are. The stairs we use is crossing a little semi-courtyard and bridging the whole mass as one experience of inside outside, ground and upper, man-made and nature.

Interior View

The building’s liability to nature implies some application of reused and recycled material. We are using recycled wooden window which are various from top hung opening, swing opening,

and fixed, they may are with louver or clear glass. Those various forms are in together creating a patchwork pattern of façade, because we retain the original different size of them. On some part, we combine exposed concrete roosters to explore more patchwork look.

Distort House

In each space, the columns and beams are just exposed with its natural concrete plaster color, among the white walls. Wooden structure for the roof is applied with wooden ceiling finish made from recycled wood plank that once used for box packaging. Terracotta roof tiles with no glazed finish are used to have more responsive values to the environment, because it balances the heat in very short time by its open pores. This unglazed clay roof can disperse until 70 percent less heat into the house. Reused steel bars are also applied for the front gate which may encloses all the idea of recycling things to create a new feel, a new look, and a new experience to have a today’s environment friendly home.